Approved Millage Rate for Doral Budget 2020
Still the Second Lowest in the County
By: María Alejandra Pulgar, @marialepulgar
DORAL, FL – The City of Doral Council voted on August 1st to set the millage rate for the first draft of the budget 2020 on 1.9, preserving the same rate since 2015-2016, which is the second-lowest in Miami-Dade County.
The millage rate is the portion of property taxes that returns to the City of Doral when they are levied by the County; a rate of 1.9 means that $1.9 should be paid per each $1,000 of the property value.
A low millage rate continues to be possible because the ad-valorem tax base has grown 6.6% on residential properties and 8.4% in commercial properties this year, as informed by the Office of the County Property Appraiser in July. This tax base allows estimate property taxes to be levied at $26,059,698, around a million more than 2018, which will generate approximate proceeds to the city of $24,756,713. With this millage rate, an average resident can expect to pay around $417 in property taxes.
For the first time this year, Doral residents will also start paying the debt service for the General Obligation Bonds, which were voted and approved by residents in November. The Millage Rate for the Debt Service is proposed to be 0.1872, which will represent the average Doral resident an estimated tax due of $41. Both retentions, regular property tax, and debt service tax will be reflected separately when residents receive their property tax bill.
What will be included on the budget?
The annual City budget is developed based on the strategic priorities defined by the Council and residents on the workshops that took place in March. The directives were to focus all projects on delivering “sustainable and resilient solutions to meet the future development vision of the City of Doral”, including elements and developments to achieve a high quality of life for residents and business owners.
To comply with those priorities the budget should include expenses and projects related to transportation, safety, infrastructure, and data analytics to monitor the operation of the City, which will enhance decision-making processes to provide better services for the community.
The draft of the proposed budget will be discussed on public workshops scheduled for August 20th and August 21st at 1 pm at the Government Center. Once completed that process, the budget will be submitted for Council approval on first reading on September 10thand second reading on September 21stat 6 pm. Residents are invited and encouraged to attend those sessions.